Wimbledon 2011: Maria Sharapova brushes Sabine Lisicki aside to set up final with Petra Kvitova

When the last of Sabine Lisicki’s errant forehands flew long, Maria Sharapova
merely clenched her fist in quiet satisfaction. It was the most muted the
‘queen of scream’ had been all afternoon.

Overjoyed: Maria Sharapova wins in straight sets to reach her first Wimbledon final since she won the title in 2004Photo: REUTERS

By Oliver Brown, at Wimbledon

5:15PM BST 30 Jun 2011

Her public appeared similarly underwhelmed, raising little more than a ripple of acclaim as the Russian reached her second Wimbledon final with a minimum of fuss. They understood that the distance between the Marias of 2004 and 2011 was measured in more than years.

The fragile-looking beauty who had the country in her thrall seven years ago has long been supplanted by a globe-girdling businesswoman of fearsome resolve and Croesan wealth. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but do not suppose the reinvention conditions Centre Court’s crowd to muster quite the same warmth.

To be fair, it had not been a match to leave many in raptures, either. Sharapova's vital statistics — that would be 13 double faults, including two in succession as she battled to break Lisicki’s defence — were not exactly worthy of a putative double champion.

Sharapova, who earned £30,000 less than men’s champion Roger ­Federer for her triumph in 2004, has served as a consistent advocate for equal pay at grand slams, claiming that there is nothing to separate the entertainment value of the men and women’s games. It looked an ­argument of dubious merit after an occasion to showcase, again, the alarming dearth of headline quality at the heart of women’s tennis.

Sharapova’s serving was lamentable, redeemed only by the reliable power of her groundstrokes. She was carried to victory largely on the fact that Lisicki played even worse, having plainly been extended a round too far by her run to the last four as a wild card. The German’s fate was stamped by a grisly sequence of 10 games, during which she won only one.

‘Team Maria’ affected not to care about their girl’s shortcomings. Sasha Vujacic, Sharapova’s fiancé, was a picture of animation throughout the 1hr 27mins it took for her to cast Lisicki aside 6-4, 6-3. Clenching his fists from the players’ box and flexing his shoulders, the basketball star was the most energised of anybody.

Sharapova conceded the flaws in her performance, although she embraced her restoration to the ­ceremony and bouquets of ladies’ final day. “It has been many years, but it’s a great feeling,” she said. “It wasn’t my best match of the Championships, so I was happy to get through in two sets. But yeah, it’s pretty amazing to be back on that stage.”

With the assets to have secured multiple slams by the age of 24, Sharapova has still won just three. She can blame a long-term shoulder injury for such a diminished return, and disclosed last night she had harboured doubts about whether she would ever return to enjoy a Wimbledon showpiece.

“I had many expectations on when I would come back — I never met any of them,” she admitted. “So that was frustrating. You go through an experience like that knowing not too many players have recovered fully from it. In a tennis life everything happens automatically. You wake up in the morning, you know you’re going to practise. Then all of a sudden you stop. It was strange, I wasn’t used to it. I certainly didn’t like being in an indoor centre, doing all these exercises with 30 repetitions every time.”

Restored to her Wimbledon amphitheatre, she made a poor start, losing the opening three games, but when Lisicki miscued on a point to lead 4-0 Sharapova gradually asserted her dominance. The 21 year-old wilted under a concerted baseline assault. She recovered a break late in the second set but for Sir Cliff Richard and guest Gloria Hunniford, watching from the Royal Box, the contest was over all too prematurely. Sharapova, who can sometimes remind one of a swan by her gracefully arching ­postures, sailed serenely on.